In-line skates have experienced a nearly phenomenal growth and increase in popularity in recent years. Such in-line skates differ from conventional roller skates in that the rolling wheels, usually four, are supported in a straight line front to back arrangement rather than the "four corner" arrangement of a conventional roller skate. This in-line wheel arrangement provides a skating characteristic which is, in many respects, a cross between ice-skating characteristics and conventional roller skating characteristics. The in-line arrangement of rolling wheels also provides substantial speed, control, maneuverability and ease of movement. Skilled users are able to enjoy long graceful gliding maneuvers similar to those enjoyed by ice skaters as well as high speed racing and maneuvering. A substantially greater agility is provided by in-line skates over conventional roller skates. The agility and similarity to ice-skating characteristics has resulted in a new sport in which the game of ice hockey is played with minor rule changes on in-line skates.
Historically, as the popularity and interest in in-line skates grew, practitioners in the art endeavored to provide ever improved and evermore appealing in-line skates. There resulted the application of substantial sophistication and technology to provide bearings and wheels which further increased the speed, control, and maneuverability potential of in-line skates. As a result, most commercially available in-line skates are capable of speeds which are often well beyond the skating capabilities and skills of the average user. One particular problem which has arisen is the problem of stopping on in-line skates. Unlike ice skates which allow the skater to stop in a variety of braking actions, in-line skates do not inherently lend themselves to good controlled stopping action.
Confronted with the problem of stopping on in-line skates, practitioners in the art initially employed braking apparatus similar to that utilized on four wheel skates of the type generally referred to as "toe stops" and a further similar variant often referred to as "heel stops". Toe stops provide a high friction material such as rubber or the like supported ahead of the skate toe which is dragged upon the skating surface to achieve braking action. Correspondingly, heel stops utilize a similar high friction material apparatus supported at the rear portion of the skate which is also applied to the skating surface to achieve a frictional stopping action.
While such toe stops and heel stops provided some braking action, they have for the most part proven inadequate due to reduced control and maneuverability. As practitioners in the art continued the development of braking apparatus on in-line skates, apparatus for providing a braking action by displacing one of the skate wheels with respect to the remaining wheels upwardly against a braking surface was provided. U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,474 sets forth a BRAKING DEVICE FOR IN-LINE SKATES having a skate frame supporting an in-line plurality of wheels and a body pivotally mounted to the frame between two of the wheels. Biasing means are provided for resiliently biasing the body toward a cruising configuration relative to the frame and braking means are provided for frictionally interacting with two of the wheels in a tilted braking configuration relative to the frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,094 sets forth a VARIABLE BRAKING SYSTEM having an in-line skate providing a plurality of wheels supported in an in-line arrangement by a frame. A swing arm is pivotally secured to the frame and supports the rearmost wheel while a spring biases the pivoting arm toward an in-line arrangement. A braking surface is supported above the pivotally supported wheel such that the user is able to tilt the skate and overcome the spring bias to drive the rearmost wheel upwardly against the braking surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,011 sets forth a SPRING BIASED BRAKING DEVICE FOR IN-LINE ROLLER SKATES having a plurality of wheels supported by a frame in an in-line arrangement. The frame supports an axle carried by a pivoting arm which is spring-biased to a cruising position and which is pivotable upwardly to force the pivotally supported wheel against a brake surface on the underside of the skate boot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,138 sets forth a BRAKING MECHANISM FOR IN-LINE SKATE having a boot together with an elongated base plate secured thereto. A plurality of wheel assemblies are attached in-line to the base plate underside and a braking assembly is further supported by the frame.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have provided improvement in many instances over the basic toe stop and heel stop braking apparatus, they tend to be unduly complex and therefore unduly costly for practical mass production use. Further, many of the devices set forth above result in compromise of the high speed characteristic or potential of in-line skates. As a result, there remains a continuing unresolved need in the art for an improved, more reliable, less complex and lower cost braking apparatus for in-line skates.